


After the Dragons

by DarkHorseAsh



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Minor Injuries, Nightmares, Panic Attacks, Serious Injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-21
Updated: 2019-03-21
Packaged: 2019-11-27 01:36:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18188096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkHorseAsh/pseuds/DarkHorseAsh
Summary: After they haul him out of the wreckage of his shop, they try to go back to normal.  It doesn't go quite as well as Gilmore had hoped.





	After the Dragons

After the attack, when they reached the keep, Gilmore didn’t seem to want to rest.  Vax propped him up on one shoulder and Percy went under the other shoulder and together they had wrestled the damaged man into the keep.  They had tried to move him into a guest room but he had dragged his feet and fought until Vax had turned to him as best he could, still holding him up, and asked “If you don’t want to sleep, what do you want?”  Gilmore had shrugged, his characteristic bravado and suave flamboyance seemingly tempered by his nearly dying. “I, ah, could I perhaps rest in the living area, where you all will be?” He looked so miserable and embarrassed that Vax softened, casting a quick glance at Percy, who shrugged.  “I imagine we will be in the dining room. Come, let’s get you sitting down.”   
  


Pike and Keyleth look unimpressed when they find Gilmore sitting up at the table instead of laying down in the guest room but Vax pointedly ignores their glares as he sits next to Gilmore, propping the man up on his own shoulder.  Percy settles on his other side and they sit in silent thought as the rest of their family joins the table. The food is simple, stew and bread and plain vegetables, but no one is going to complain. They pull up enough chairs from the storage room for the children and the Empress to sit and eat.  Gilmore doesn’t really touch his food ; he’s half asleep, slumped on Vax’s shoulder, and Vax doesn’t have the heart to move him so he just absentmindedly runs a hand through his friend’s hair and eats his own stew. Pike finally breaks the silence, speaking up from the far side of the table. “He needs to be in bed he’s really hurt, Vax.”  Vax sighs, grunting in agreement around his mouthful of bread before speaking. “Yes, but he did not want to go and you know I can not deny this man anything, especially when he looks this upset.” 

 

It turns out they have more issues than just fitting everyone in the room for dinner.  “Well, we have two guest rooms so the kids can take one and you can have the other, Empress.  They border each other, so you all are close.” Vax blinks, suddenly wide awake when he had priorly been pretty unfocused.  “I have a feeling I know where this is going, sister.” Vex smiles silkily, and Vax groans internally. “Dear brother, you know Gilmore would prefer to wake up next to you rather than one of us and you do not sleep as heavily as some of us so if something happens to him, you’d realize it faster.”  There are a thousand arguments that Vax could make against that, but he doesn’t. He just takes a deep breath, readies himself, and nods. “Alright, but Percival is sleeping over, too.” Percy blinks, for once looking surprised but seemingly too tired to argue with  _ both  _ twins as he nods.  “Well, ok, this could be fun.”

 

Gilmore stirs as they haul him up, moaning weakly in pain as Vax presses a kiss to his temple and holds him on his feet.  “I know, I know Gil, it’s ok, you’re ok, I promise.” He soothes. “You’re gonna be just fine, we’ve got you.” Gilmore hums, tucking his head into Vax’s neck.  “If I believed anyone when they told me that it would be you, Vax'ildan.” Vax can’t stop himself from grinning at the man at his side, moving slowly forward as he and Percy basically carry the man.  “Gil you flirt, let’s get you laying down, hmm?” He could feel the exhaustion of the recent days setting in, leaving him shaky as he eased Gilmore down onto his bed. “We should wrap those wounds, give me a moment.”  Percy moves to rummage through Vax’s dresser, and he can’t quite make himself care enough to comment on it. 

 

Percy seems to be faring the best out of them all. He finishes wrapping his wounds, and Gilmore’s wounds, before kneeling in front of Vax and, making sure that Vax could track his every movement, began to wash off the worst of the dust and the blood.  Percy was far more gentle than the half-elf had expected, feeling the hands carefully run over his face as the worst of the soot vanished. “Thank you, Freddie.” Vax rasps, suddenly feeling exhausted as he swayed against his friend’s hand. Percy rolls his eyes, moving to help Vax lay down next to Gilmore.  “I would say you would do the same for me, but I’m not convinced you are.” He snorts. Vax grins weakly. “Come to bed?” He teased, feeling Gilmore’s sides shake in amusement next to him. Percy can’t even keep a bemused, exasperated, smile down as he nods. “Yeah, ok, but I’m not laying next to you. Gil, mind scooting over?”

 

It’s foolish, in Percy’s opinion, to think any of them will sleep well.  He lays awake, head resting on his hands as he runs through idea after idea after idea for devices that could kill that gods-forsaken dragon.  Next to him, GIlmore’s rasping breaths fill the air, a reminder of what they had come so close to losing. Vax slept like he moved;careful, precise, knowing exactly where all of his limbs in every moment so in an emergency he could react in a second.  Percy was almost certain that he had a dagger, at least one, under the pillow but he couldn’t fault him because, as always his gun rested on the nightstand a few feet away from him.

 

Vax did not usually dream of much.  Sometimes he dreamt of the years his sister and he had spent on the street, the battles his family had been in.  He dreamt of dragons and beasts and mind flayers and bodies on the ground and the moment they stood back up. His dreams weren’t good, but they weren’t bad, they were just moments that he was never going to forget. But that night, his dreams were different, full of fire and flames.  He watched his childhood home be destroyed as he listened to Thordak’s insane laughing above his head as he sobbed out  _ no _ , hearing his mother’s cries of terror and pain and  _ fear  _ that he hadn’t been there to save her from.  He dreamed of Gilmore facing a dragon, with only his hands and his magic and nothing that could possibly allow him to face a  _ dragon  _ on his own.  He watched Gilmore thrown back, claws tearing into his abdomen as he struggled to get away, to shield himself to do  _ something.   _ And then he watched him fall, watched Gilmore tear him to pieces and tear his sister to pieces and tear Percy to pieces and he couldn’t reach them, couldn’t ever move towards them even as they looked so close that he could reach out and touch their faces.  

 

Percy awoke with a start, unsure of when he had even fallen asleep.  He heard a cry and lunged, one hand grabbing the gun on the nightstand as he twisted around, realizing just before he pulled the trigger that it was just Vax.  The dark-haired half-elf was twisting in the sheets, letting out small, anguished cries that Percy wouldn’t have ever thought he could make. Gilmore moaned next to him and Percy sighed, making a quick decision.  He crouches down and basically picks Gilmore up, managing to haul him across the room to sit him against the wall before scrambling onto the bed. He throws the daggers that were under the pillows across the room, in an effort to keep Vax from a weapon, before shaking the man roughly.  “Come on, Vax'ildan, you’re going to worry Gil and he’s trying to heal from a pretty bad wound so we don’t want to worry him. It’s alright, we’re all alive.” Percy had never been the best at comfort, which was clear when Vax woke with a strangled scream. “No, no, no.” He whimpered, eyes wide and not really seeing Vax as he hurtled himself off the bed and landed in a heap, pressing himself into the wall.  “No no no please no, not Gil, no.” he whimpered frantically.

 

Percy stands, glances around, cursing loudly.  “I’m getting your sister, I don’t want to accidentally hurt you more than I help.”  He decides, ducking out the door and slamming it so loud that Gilmore begins to stir.  He blinks sluggishly, eyes taking a moment to focus on the figure slumped in the far corner of the room but the moment they focus he is stumbling forward.  “Vax’ildan?” He questions worriedly, seeing the twisted horror on the slightly younger man’s face. “Vax’ildan, what on earth is the matter?” Vax gives a broken sob, twisting his head away.  “You’re not here, you died, you’re not really here.” He mumbles. Gilmore leans forward, body throbbing in pain as he sits next to Vax. “I assure you, I am not dead, at least not as far as I am aware.”  Vax doesn’t even seem to hear so Gilmore leans forward, pulling the other man into his lap as he ignores the way Vax stiffens, ignores the sharp pain that courses through his own body as he moves, and just cradles his friend to his chest and holds him.

 

He isn’t sure when Vex gets there.  He’s had his head down, resting against Vax’s head as he combs his fingers through the long black hair and gently murmurs that he’s alive, they’re all alive.  He looks up for a moment and catches sight of a face that is still shockingly familiar to the one in his arms. “Is he alright?” Vex looked far less threatening than usual, without her bear and her armor and her bow.  She even lacked her typical body language, the way she held herself that clearly said she had money and she liked it, the masks pulled over her face. She looked younger, exhausted, and undeniably worried. “Hey Gil.” She murmurs.  “Mind if I join you two?” He shakes his head, trying to move a bit to the side but yelping in pain and falling still. Vax has gone silently in his arms, body still twitching with the occasional sob. Vex scoots in to the open space on one side of him, leaning her head against his shoulder and starting to braid her twin’s hair.  “You ok, Gil?” Percy asks from the door. Gilmore just nods, suddenly overtaken with a wave of exhaustion that has him slumping forward till those strong tinkerer’s hands pull him into a warm chest. “Close your eyes, Gilmore. Get some rest. We’ve got him, now, he’s gonna be fine. We all will.” 

 

When he wakes, he’s not sitting on the floor anymore.  He’s laying on the bed, bracketed by Percy and Vax. Vex is sitting in a chair off to one side and cleaning her what looks like one of her brother’s daggers, but she perks up when he opens his eyes.  “You been there all night?” He rasps, and she doesn’t bother to answer before she crosses the room. “I’m under direct orders to get you guys up for breakfast. Pike says you need to eat.” 

 

It takes Vex and Vax to get him on his feet and even when he is up he sways painfully between them, managing a tired smile.  “Alright, let’s move, I am hungry enough to eat your brother.” He teases Vex, who rolls her eyes good naturedly and helps him another step forward.  Percy lags behind them, helping grab him whenever he looked particularly shaky. “Oww” Gilmore muttered half-heartedly, too sore even to complain as they reached the staircase.  It takes all three of them to help him down the staircase, which leaves the injured man shaky and gasping. “Gods above, how do all you fight like this?” Vex snorts, explaining “adrenaline, mostly.”  Gilmore gives a huffing, aching laugh and leans heavier on Vax. “Come on, I was promised breakfast.”

 

Later, when the food has been eaten and the dishes have been cleaned and everyone is settling down to try and recenter themselves, he finds himself in the bedroom alone.  Vax and Vex were off sparing, where  _ he  _ had sent them when he’d seen how twitchy they were getting.  Percy was tinkering, apparently, and as much as Gilmore really wanted to see that and try and get into the mind of the gunsmith, he generally knew better than to barge in on Percy without permission.  But today, even with as much pain as he was in, there was still an emotion overriding that pain; fear. He couldn’t quite keep his hands still, reliving the look on the dragon’s face over and over in the silence of the room  “Well, this is sure to end well” he mutters to himself as he pulls his way to his feet, conjures a walking stick, and struggles out of the room. 

 

He only passingly had heard the location of the workshop, when Percy had muttered that he was going to the basement to get there.  He made to the stairs without too much trouble, but getting down them was a ten-minute affair full of pained yelps that he muffled with the collar of Vax’s shirt that he was wearing.  Finding the second set of stairs that went down, he stumbled down once more, feet trying to guide him as best they could as he yelped and groaned in agony. A moment passed when his feet hit the ground and he swayed, trying desperately to hold himself up with his stick.  Another moment passed, and then a white-haired head was stuck into the hallway and Percy was cursing. “What the hell are you doing, get in here you  _ moron.”   _ Percy snaps, all but carrying Gilmore to a chair in his workshop.  The arcanist’s sides shook with pained gasps that slowly evened out into steady breaths.  He blinked, eyes focusing on Percy, who was crouched in front of him with a hand on his knee.  “What were you THINKING!”

 

Gilmore is beginning to realize that he probably hadn’t been thinking at all.  “I was...it was quiet.” Percy blinks, something like understanding clicking in his eyes as he stood back up and stretched.  “Well, it certainly is loud enough down here. Have you ever seen my workshop till now?” At the shaken head, Percy gives a little grin.  “It’s a good workspace. I’m working on a new design at the moment, maybe you can give me some advice on the magical part of it?” Gilmore nods, so Percy turns back to his blueprints, talking aloud as he works.  He keeps watch out of the corner of his eye, watching the man slump back into the chair and relax, and so he just keeps working aloud as long as he can, till he looks down and realizes he’s made three new blueprints and his voice is hoarse from speaking.  Gilmore was dozing, head resting on his fist, and so Percy just nodded in approval and kept going.

 

It comes to ahead two nights later.  The children had taken to sleeping with their mother, so Gilmore had been moved to the second guest room.  He rested, head on his hands, dozing but not quite willing to sleep because he knew if he slept he would see them burning again.  He rested on his side, head on his elbow, as he fought to breathe deeply despite his damaged ribs that were taking a while to heal.  Pike had lectured him for fifteen minutes after his little hike down to the basement, and he hadn’t been able to argue with her because she was  _ definitely  _ right.  It was deep into the night when a knock on the door drew his attention, rousing him from his spot dozing on the bed.  He stumbled to the door, giving a small smile when he saw Vax and Percy waiting on the other side. “Good evening, gentlemen.”  His smile slips off his face when he sees the look on Vax’s, sending a questioning look at Percy. The white-haired man gave a tiny shake of his head, mouthing  _ nightmare.   _

 

Gilmore forces his smile back onto his face and takes two steps back, letting them into his room.  Vax follows quickly, body shaking frantically. The moment the door is closed and Gilmore is sitting on the bed again, Vax scrambles up onto it, tucking his knees into his chest.  Percy moves to sit on his other side, and Gilmore worriedly notes the gun hanging at his side and the way his hands flick towards it over and over even as Percy moves to try and comfort Vax, who just ducks his head down and pulls away.  “Hey, gorgeous, it’s alright.” He soothes, resting a hand on Vax’s leg and refusing to budge even when he flinches away. “We’re all safe, thanks to you guys. It’s going to take more than Thordak to kill us.” This is apparently the exact wrong, and right, thing to say, because the moment the words pass his lips, Vax is twisting and hurdling himself into Gilmore’s arms as he breaks down in frantic sobs.  Percy twists to rest a hand on his back, eyes that are far too old dark with worry, as Gilmore tries to refrain from making a noise of pain at the pressure on his damaged body.

 

They lay there for a long time, until Vax fell quiet against his shoulder, sides slowly rising and falling as he slept.  Gilmore glanced at Percy, who was looking between the bed and the door with an impossible amount of  _ longing  _ in his gaze.  He shifts slowly to the right, keeping Vax wrapped up in his arms, basically tucking them against the wall.  “Cmon, lay down. You need sleep.” Something softens in Percy’s eyes and he sighs, nods, and sets his gun on the nightstand he was now sleeping right next to.  He stretched out on his side of the bed, and Gilmore rolled sideways so Vax was nestled between them. “Sleep” He says softly, reaching over to rest a hand on Percy’s arm and grinning to himself when he didn’t pull away.  “I’m sure Vex is outside that door, making sure we’re not going to be hurt. You can rest, Percival.” He doesn’t wait to see what the boy does, just rests his head on the pillow, tightens his grip on them both, and closes his eyes.  


End file.
